Totally Behind and just some Holiday Thoughts

Once again I am bloggy behind. I have been CRAZY busy lately. I have about 10 pans in the fire. As per my usual I am crazy lets make a tornado around us lifestyle. This past week we did some super fun stuff and I have lots of pictures to post. It was Samantha's Birthday and we aren't done celebrating yet. I still have 2 more parties for her and tomorrow is the 1st Teacher Dinner of the year so I am going to be busy busy cooking and hauling. Thank goodness I have tomorrow night and the next night off to sleep. I need it sooooooo bad. 2 -3 hrs the past couple of weeks is really catching up to me. Some big busy days ahead so hopefully soon I can update more. I also want to read every ones blogs and catch up. I am so behind and I miss them. I always get such great inspiration by all the wonderful people that I know and also that I have met though blogs. I need that pick my up right now. I know I should mark them all as read and just start fresh but I really hate to miss out on anything.

Anyway.. while reading one of my FAVORITE blogs in the world Crazymammaof6 and answering her curious questions I decided I wanted to post my answers because she had such great questions about our Christmas shopping habits. The past few yrs I have been really focusing on making Christmas a spiritually uplifting time of year and on trying to focus more on the reason for the season and the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I have been trying (keyword trying) to cut some of the things that are unnecessary and take up to much time around the holidays.

My problem is that even though I don't spend a lot of $$ on gifts I always want to give something that is heartfelt and personal which usually results in a project or many projects that I am running around finishing at the last minute and etc. It's just my way. LOL

Here are my other Christmas thoughts for the day:
1.do you think about the stuff you'd like for Christmas? Yes but never make a list and never buy any of it because I do the mom thing and spend it all in the kids.

2. I am practical about Christmas gifts I want it to be something people can actually use and enjoy. The kids always get some clothes and sometimes coats and etc. Plus the stocking are usually filled with soaps, socks, shampoo, bubble baths, and etc along with some fun stuff. But hey it fills the sock and they use it.

3. What is your per person limit in your family you try to stick to. On my side we draw names and have it set to $15 on my hubby's side I just try to come up with something I can make for each family.. or a family game since they don't draw names. It is actually cheaper on his side because on my side with us drawing names and the kids to that is $15 each for 6 people. OUCH

4. I Do not budget very well. I suck with money. I just try to be cheap and then always spend too much. I try to pay it all from checking and now have a Christmas Acct. that I have been putting $$ in since I started working too. But yrs past I did it on credit cuz I had no other options and didn't want my kids to have bad Christmases. That was a hole that was not fun climbing out of. So now I will go with out or get creative before pulling out a credit card.

Another thing I am trying to learn is that if we only got our kids the stuff they actually ask for instead of all the cute other things we see and think they will like or that we find on deals it would save tons of $$$$$

5. When do you start shopping? Try to put a few things away starting about Sept. but I do most my shopping after Thanksgiving and LOTS the week before Christmas right up till Christmas Eve. LOL Last minute is how I do everything. Jesse and I love to go one night late late at night and do a big all at once get what we need shopping trip. That has become kind of a tradition for us. We like to shop together.

6. Which is more important to you? A: saving money and getting the best deal? or B: saving time, you don't have time to shop around, or time is money to you? That is a hard one it little of both. I love a good deal but I will not spend time running from store to store. That is just tripping over a dollar to save a dime. But I will comparison shop online, and hopefully find a coupon.

So thanks for reading my dumb not so interesting thoughts on Christmas. I love questions like this that get me to take the time to write down more things about my personality and how I tick. I think that these are the fun things that my grandkids or kids may want to know someday. LOL

10 on Tuesday Oct 14th

Here are this weeks 10 memories....

1. Will finally decided to go potty consecutively. He has been using it off and on when the mood strikes but finally this week decided that it is easier to just use it all the time. His big motivation? He hates it when I hold his legs to change him and likes that I don't have to when he uses the toilet. Who'd have thunk it? hehe Hope this will last.

2. Did some canning this weekend. We did Spaghetti Sauce. Yummy. Now that is one food storage item that I could probably never have to much of. Nothing like homemade Spaghetti Sauce made with home grown tomatoes.

3. In the process of the canning adventure we realized that no stores in my area have canning jars in stock. Not kidding. We went to about 5 stores and they were all out. We ended up having to barrow jars from my MIL. Thank goodness for a generous and loving family. Once the stores get restocked in Jars I think I am going to buy some extras in case I have more canning to do.

4. Also made freezer jam. I picked peaches off my Mom and Dad's trees and made the yummiest peach and raspberry and also peach blueberry jam ever. Oh it is soooooo yummy. I love when it just turns out good. I would like to make more but there is only so much room in the freezer.

5. Garyn learned about Columbus on Columbus Day in school. For some strange reason he has been having dreams about Columbus having his head cut off and him finding it somewhere. I have absolutely no idea what brought this on but the last 2 nights he hasn't been able to sleep. Poor kid.

6. Jesse had Columbus Day off but the kids didn't so it was nice to have him home with me and the little boys. We got to spend some time helping his Mom and Step Dad pick out some new TV's and putting them up. It was great to be able to help them. Not just to be able to help them but the little boys love going over there and playing with Grandpa's train set. So they got to spend lots of time with is while they TV's were getting hooked up. When we left Will cried and said he wanted to play with Grandpa's trains at Wills house. Not sure how he thought we were going to be able to bring Grandpa's whole train table to our house, but it was pretty cute anyway.

7. Samantha has a cousin on the High school Drill Team so she got to take classes all week from the High school girls and on Friday Night performed at the varsity game. They had a blast but almost froze to death. It was so stinking cold out there on Friday.

Necia, Erika, Sierra, and Samantha

8. Went to a Movie with Jesse for date night.. we saw Eagle Eye and I liked it. I like most movies. I just plain like to watch movies. It's silly but I guess it's a hobby in a way.

9. I started on my Christmas Gifts for neighbors and friends.. This is going to take me longer than I thought. Once again I didn't think this over very well, and bit off more than I could chew. LOL

10. Been taking care of my Dad's dog and her puppies while he and my mom are on a cruise and yesterday when I went over to feed her she jumped up on his 4 wheeler and whined at me. So of course I had to take her for her 4wheel ride.. and my boys too. LOL His dog is hilarious she misses him when he isn't home to take her for her ride. I believe she has been therapeutic for him over the past 2 yrs with his trials. Sometimes animals can be that way. But that is a whole other story. But she is a cute dog and her new pups are stinking darling.

10 on Tuesday

10 on Tuesday Sept. 30th - Oct. 7th



I know it has been a busy week cuz I feel like I have been drug under a bus all week, but I can't think of much that we did. hum....



1. We have taken lots of little day trips over to my parents this week to play with our baby kitties that are living there. And while we were out of town last week my dads dog had 6 puppies. OH SO CUTE! So grandpa has been getting lots of visits this week so that we can play with the animals. (Anyone want a baby kitty or puppy?)



2. Slug girl has returned.. I am a total slug again this week. I feel like a walking zombie. I haven't accomplished a single thing. Back to normal around here. Darn.



3. Oh but we did get some of our Halloween put up. We did the cutest dang lights on the porch and Jesse got a cute witch and attached her to be crashing on the roof. Now just to get the inside done.



4. The kids had friends over on Friday.. but the of course kept disappearing over to my moms to play with the kittens and puppy's.



5. Necia slept over on Friday. I work Saturday mornings at 2 am.. I went to bed at midnight they were "going to sleep now" I woke up to work just before 2 and they were still up there laughing and giggling and putting ice in their shirts to stay awake. Checked on them again on my break at 3:30 they were asleep. Little Stinkers!



6. Grandma and Grandpa S came over and the kids swarmed them with I did this and I did that and look at this and that and so on... They love visits from the Grandparents. Poor Grandparents though... it had to feel like being in a pool of piranha.



7. I love conference weekend and was really looking forward to it. But it was raining to hard so we didn't get our between sessions fall drive in and that was a bummer. And Garyn had his volume on mega loud so it was hard to catch much of it. That kid was hyper all weekend. grrrrrr... next time I am buying duct tape before hand. LOL



8. I loved President Monsons talk so much and I really do know that I will miss these crazy times some day. When life if slower and the kids are grown and gone I will miss running around like a chicken with my head cut off and I will miss being zombie mom. ;) It helps to have the reminder to enjoy it now.



9. Garyn had his 1st field trip for Kindergarten they went to Corn Belly's at Thanksgiving point. I didn't get to go.... they had so many moms that signed up to help that they had to draw names. I wasn't lucky enough. Bet I missed out on lots of fun and on some really great pictures. He loved every second of it and had lots to say when he got home.



10. I got all my stuff figured out and ordered for the kids School Halloween parties, and I even got my visit teaching done. This is very very early for me.

My Super Cool Surprise! Room Makeover!!

My Super Cool Surprise! Room Makeover!!

When I got home from my Fab Family Trip to Disneyland I was welcomed by the best surprise ever! While I was out a little group of fairies (meaning my super cool, awesome, talented, creative, organized friend Nikki and her family) did an extreme makeover on my office / scrapbook room. WOOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! This was not a minor makeover by any means it took her and her hubby and 2 kids a lot of man hours to pull this off. I am talking CUSTOM MADE desks and work bench... painted my ugly file cabinets, finished up my wall projects and hung them... and organized all my loads of scrapbook crap! She worked it out with Jesse ahead that he would give them the house keys and $$ for whatever they needed. She also totally pumped me for info about how I planned on doing the room. I was clueless... the whole time I thought she was getting ideas for HER craft room. LOL Yup I am gullible. But happy!!! hehehe

I can not even begin to tell you how awesome this is. I have never had such a nice surprise. Anything that I can possibly say to describe just how lucky I feel and how thankful I am will be an understatement. So without further adieu here are the pictures, with more details.

The Finished Product

So lets start with my fabulous new custom made desk. OK for those that don't know me I work from home. I take phone calls and since my kids are LOUD I work in the middle of the night. This is my quiet room where I work. Up until now my desk consisted of 2 plastic fold down tables and piles of junk. Joe (Nikki's hubby) made me this new desk to work on at night. I feel like a queen and can't believe how spoiled I am. He even used my file cabinets and incorporated them into the desk... painted in my favorite Black of course.

Are you dying yet??? Wait it gets better!

Notice the 12x12 frames on the wall? I had bought these a few months ago and like most of my great finds they found their way onto a shelf in the corner... Nikki in her genius ways found me the perfect ribbon and hung them for me. So now I have my red frames on the wall and need to make the pages to go in them. I am doing a page of each kid.

Now look at his PERFECT wall! Which by the way all walls were naked before this. My other darling friend Amy gave me these 3 stars and I haven't found the perfect spot for them yet. Looks like Nikki found the perfect spot huh? Though she did have to hunt the house looking for them with Amy on the phone giving direction. LOL

I also already had the iron decor that is above the fabulous magnet board that she bought and painted and hung for me. I told it gets better didn't I? Well guess what we aren't done yet... We have 2 more wall to go. I am sooooooo freaking spoiled! I do not deserve such a great friend and hubby!

Now for wall 3. This is the work bench that they made me. WOWSER! They painted the file cabinets, hooked them together.. then he built me platforms to lift them so the drawers would open easier... then took an old salvaged door that I had in the backyard and made me the counter top. Love the rounded corners and the antiquing that they did on it. Look at how nicely they organized my stuff on top too. And the drawers are all nicely organized and full as well. And just to add a touch of class she put up my vinyl saying for me that has been sitting here since I moved in.
Wall #4 she got rid of my worn out see through drawers and brought in my cubbies from the bonus room. Reinforced them and organized all my stuff into them. This had to be a long daunting task... her final decision was that I have to much stuff. HA HA HA who would have thought it? Oh I don't know probaby everybody. I know I am such a pack rat and scrapbook collector. She also hung my red paper holder and put ribbon on my baskets and then bought me new curtain rods and red and black curtains. DANG CUTE!

Jealous Much?

I am soooooooo amazed that they did this for me. I still can not believe it. And to top it all off she just started a new job last week right in the middle of doing this room for me. Now this was one amazing family service project. She will be rewarded in heaven for sure. And I just have to mention what a bargain shopper she is. Everything she bought she used a coupon for and her hubby used wood they had extra for my desk and the total cost for my new fabulous room?? You will die! $120 Yup like I said she is AMAZING!!

The Before

I searched everywhere for a picture of how bad this room was before... can't find one... that's cuz it was not a room that I wanted to take pictures of. It has been the catch all for a few months.. But in the back ground of these photos you can get a clue at the before.

In the back ground here you can see the cluttered table with my worn out see through drawers and the 6 salvaged file cabinets that I had all in a row that were like an ugly primer gray color. I got these from a cousin of mine that clears office equipment. There were in great condition just not that cute of a color. :)

The pile on top of the file cabinets... is frames, art, decorations for the house that I haven't used yet. Nice that Nikki has way more vision than I do. She did get lots of over the phone help from Amy the 2 together had some great ideas. Don't ya think?

Behind the crying child you will see my plastic fold up table, my old kitchen table chair and more stacks of scrapbook stuff. Now aren't you glad that it looks so much better in here now? I know I am. I was actually excited to come back to work yesterday just so that I could play in my new room.

I love love love my room. My kids told me that I can't just hide in here all the time. I say that they are wrong and that I can. :)

THANKS AGAIN NIKKI!!!!!!!!

YOU ARE THE BEST!